Step in to the FM Kirby Theater from the Autumn splendor of red, orange and yellow leaves and clear blue sky outside, and you almost immediately enter another world. From the moment you view Brian Ruggaber’s austere set, you know you’re in for something special. The sound of the rain with the occasional flicker of lightning while thunder rolls sets the angst meter to 11. Already feeling chilled to the bone, though it’s perfectly warm, the weaving of one of Shakespeare’s most popular tales has begun.
Brian Crowe has conceived and directed a “Macbeth” that is breathtaking and supremely well-acted. It has a sense of underlying menace and that headlong sickening thrill of knowing that madness and mayhem will follow, and we are powerless to do anything but witness it. Macbeth is played by Ray Fisher who may look familiar to you, in film he plays heroes, and he is a statuesque figure who inhabits Macbeth like the character is his favorite shirt. Mr. Fisher builds Macbeth’s many fallacies into a wall beyond which nothing ultimately may penetrate. Erin Partin is Lady Macbeth and she gives delicate power to the weaving of her crystal palace of madness. She is such a dynamic figure in the first act that her descent is all the greater and we see every granular detail in her chilling performance.
Especially wonderful for me was the warp and weft of the Weird Sisters, portrayed by Ellie Gossage, Felix Mayes and Aura Tomeski, returning company favorites all. Their virtuosity brings these characters to vibrant, thrilling vibrancy that had goosebumps everywhere – from prophecy to penalties, they have it all. Clark Carmichael’s MacDuff shows the emotion behind his man’s man exterior when he learns the fate of his family. The emotions show as visibly on his face as clouds moving across the sky on a windy day. When his resolve to avenge them firms up – we watch it happen.
This play is one that will live in your memory. “Macbeth” was last performed at STNJ more than twenty years ago, and the time is now to see something wicked that will not be around again for some time to come. Visit https://www.shakespearenj.org/events/detail/macbeth now, running only through November 17.